The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expects further progress to be made in negotiations between Ukraine and the IMF, NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko has said.
“The main assumption of the macroeconomic forecast taken into account by the NBU Board is continued cooperation with the IMF. The NBU expects further progress to be made in negotiations between Ukraine and the IMF,” Shevchenko said at a briefing.
According to him, long delays in the performance of the agreement on cooperation with the IMF would create risks to financing the state budget deficit, especially in the coming years. This could also deteriorate inflation and exchange rate expectations, forcing the central bank to tighten its monetary policy.
“Conversely, the performance of the IMF cooperation program would enable Ukraine to raise the planned amount of official financing, while making it cheaper to borrow on the external and domestic markets. This would also help maintain Ukraine’s international reserves at $29 to $31 billion in 2021-2023,” Shevchenko summed up. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)